Free The Devil's Sanctuary by Marie Hermanson Page A

is that I’m in debt here at the clinic as well, and they won’t let me go and get the money. Do you see my dilemma?”
    Daniel was starting to realize what Max wanted to ask him.
    “I can’t get your money for you, Max. I want to help you, but I’m not going to get mixed up in anything criminal. There’s a limit to how much help I’m prepared to offer.”
    Max stared at him in astonishment, then burst out laughing.
    “No, no, Daniel. I’d never ask that of you. You wouldn’t be able to do it. Dealing with the Mafia is a science in itself.”
    To his surprise, Daniel felt hurt. Somewhere deep down he had already made up his mind that he might just let himself be persuaded to take this on, something entirely new in his life.
    “But you said you wanted to ask a favor,” he reminded Max. “What do you want me to do?”
    “Nothing, really. Just what you’ve been doing today and yesterday. Have a beer at Hannelores Bierstube. Cycle up here and go fishing. Wander the alpine meadows. The sort of thing you were planning to do anyway during your holiday in Switzerland. Just without having to pay for a hotel.”
    “I don’t follow.”
    “No? I’m just asking you to stay here while I sort things out. Three, four days at most. You take my place.”
    Max leaned closer, looked Daniel in the eye and went on. “I leave here as Daniel. You stay here as Max. We’re identical twins, had you forgotten?”
    Daniel sighed and raised his eyes.
    “Like those stupid games we used to play as children? Or when you took a girl from me in London? Do you think it’s as easy as that? Besides, we’re not even particularly similar anymore. No one’s pointed out how alike we are since I got here; have you thought about that? Not at the clinic, or in the bierstube. No second glances, no whispering, no comments. ‘Oh, are you twins, that’s great!’ No one’s so much as raised an eyebrow.”
    Max smiled scornfully. “But how could they see how similar we are when you’ve got half your face hidden?” With these last words he leaned in close to Daniel, pinching his thumb and forefinger together as if he were thinking of grabbing Daniel’s beard.
    Instinctively Daniel leaned back, his hand flying up to protect his cheek.
    “That’s why you grew that ridiculous thing, isn’t it?” Max went on. “So we wouldn’t look the same? You wanted a face of your own. It works, actually, I’ve noticed it too. But beneath the disguise you look just the same as me. You just have to shave it off, Daniel, and we’d be like two peas in a pod.”
    “So, I shave my beard off. And look like you. And your beard grows overnight and you look like me?” Daniel said sarcastically. “If your beard grows at the same rate as mine, it’ll take you several months to get one like this.”
    “If it’s real, yes.”
    Daniel let out a short laugh. “You’re thinking of wearing a false beard? Well, that’s one way to convince them that you’re mad. This isn’t one of your silly student pranks. A cheap false beard—assuming you could even get hold of one here, which I doubt—would look ridiculous. It wouldn’t fool anyone.”
    Max carefully folded a piece of foil containing the bare fish bones. He licked his fingers and put the foil in the pannier beside him.
    “Who said anything about a cheap false beard?” he said calmly. “Here at the Himmelstal clinic we don’t do anything on the cheap. Everything, from the toilet paper to the Oriental rugs in reception, is of the very highest quality. Are you done?”
    He pointed at Daniel’s piece of foil, with its few scraps of fish and bones. Daniel nodded, and said, “And why would a rehab clinic have false beards at all?”
    “We have a little theater, you know,” Max said, taking care of Daniel’s foil in the same neat way as his own. “A proper theater with a stage and dressing rooms and everything. It’s used as an auditorium for lectures, conferences, and so on. And also theatrical